Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"As I drove home later that day, through the protective ring of equipment, I realized a fundamental difference between public safety and healthcare.

"Public safety is BUILT on latent capacity. We pay for people and equipment to stand idle, over-prepared for emergencies.

"in contrast, health care has been monetized, and the incentive for profit has led to the pursuit of 'efficiency' at every level.

"Well, every level where *people* can have more squeezed out of them.

"Harder work, more patients to care for, more paperwork, more complexity.

"We've left no latent capacity in health care. Everyone was working at their maximum. Forget burn-out. People were just holding on. Some stayed for what personal and professional gratification they found. Many stayed because of the financial realities of families and student loans

"You know who wasn't hurting? Working ever/longer hours with ever more complex patients and systems? Administrators. Executives.

"But the front-line people and systems were already holding nothing in reserve in this county.

"And some part of the tragedy that's now unfolding in this country is because of that. Because we let health care become a business. And businesses don't keep 100 extra fire trucks around, their crews trained and ready, 'just in case'."

-- Ryan Gamlin, MD (RyanGamlin), 2020-04-04 ( start of thread | start of quoted portion)